Intense crash of Libyan war plane
0:24

Watch the dramatic vision of a Libyan war plane crashing in a residential part of the eastern city of Tobruk.

news.com.au

03 Sep 2014

News/World

Lethal weapon ... a damaged aeroplane on the tarmac at Tripoli international airport. The bigger concern is about the planes that were not damaged and are still flyable. Pictured AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD TURKIASource: AFP

FEARS have been raised that Islamic militants have seized a dozen commercial aircraft in an attack on a Libyan airport last week. Now, according to a report, intelligence agencies are warning the jets could be used in 9/11-style attacks.

“There are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing,” one official told The Washington Free Beacon this morning.

“We found out on September 11 what can happen with hijacked planes.”

The report said intelligence reports distributed within the US government over the past few weeks have detailed the types of aircraft believed seized. Several have the size and range to reach deep into Europe and Africa.

The Beacon reports the analysts as issuing a specific warning — that one or more of the aircraft could be used in an attack on the date marking the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in the United States.

Tripoli International Airport ravaged by rebels
1:19

Vision of Tropoli International Airport in Libya after it was stormed through by Islamist militants wanting to take control of the crucial location.

news.com.au

03 Sep 2014

News

Libya is witnessing its worst violence since former dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi was toppled and killed in 2011.

The country’s divisions are deeply rooted in rivalries between Islamists and non-Islamists, as well as powerful tribal and regional allegiances between groups that quickly filled the power vacuum after Gaddafi’s was ousted. Successive transitional governments have failed to control the militias.

Battlefield ... Spent bullet shells litter the ground as a member of the Islamist-linked militia of Misrata walks past after three days of battles in the area of Tripoli's International airport. Picture: AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD TURKIASource: AFP

FIGHTING FLARES UP

Fierce clashes have erupted in recent days over Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi.

Fighting between Islamist militiamen and rival forces loyal to a renegade general killed 31 fighters on both sides, a security official said overnight.

The fighting erupted late on Monday, with forces and fighter jets belonging to General Khalifa Hifter pounding positions of Islamist militias called The Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council, said the official.

Libyan fighters storm Tripoli International Airport
1:29

Misrata fighters can be seen storming through the airports now-desolate departure lounge following the liberation.

news.com.au

03 Sep 2014

News

The issue of foreign military intervention is one of the most debated in the country. Earlier this month, unknown parties carried out air strikes in Tripoli, bombing Islamist-allied militias’ positions. American officials confirmed reports that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were behind the two air strikes.

The hours-long clashes concentrated around the city’s Benina airport and the militiamen responded with artillery, added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

Military Jet Crash Causes Major Fire Cloud in Libya
0:23

Journalists shooting video close to the scene said the jet was flying low before it hit a block of flats and crashed into the ground in a fiery inferno in Tobruk, Libya.

news.com.au

03 Sep 2014

News/World

The militias in control of the capital, operating under an umbrella group called the Dawn of Libya, have also taken control of the US embassy compound a week after they drove out rival militias.

On Tuesday, Libya’s official news agency said calm had returned to Tripoli, with some banks resuming work and shops and bakeries reopening. Traffic also picked up in the capital and there were long lines outside gas stations. Some families who fled the fighting areas have returned to their homes, the agency said.

On Monday, Libya’s newly elected parliament asked Abdullah al-Thinni — the country’s prime minister who resigned last week — to form a new government. Al-Thinni had said after his resignation that his government had lost control of almost all state institutions and government offices to the armed Islamist militias.

The fighting forced the newly elected parliament and al-Thinni to operate in the eastern city of Tobruk.

On Tuesday, Mohammed Shouaib, the deputy head of parliament, stressed that the body did not ask for “military intervention” but for the United Nations to help Libya build its institutions, including the police and military. He was referring to an earlier decision by the parliament to call for international help in restoring order in Libya.

Wreckage ... A picture taken on August 26, 2014, shows the damaged interior of the main building at Tripoli international airport in the Libyan capital. Picture: AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD TURKIASource: AFP

Shouaib was speaking in a press conference with British envoy Jonathan Powell and British ambassador Michael Aron, who were visiting Tobruk to express support to the elected parliament.

Meanwhile in Tripoli, a parallel government is in the making. Supported by Islamist allies, the so-called National Salvation government led by Omar al-Hassi and his 14-ministers won a vote of confidence. Al-Hassi was appointed by the outgoing parliament — whose mandate expired after a new parliament was elected — and assigned him to form a new government to challenge the legitimate ones in Tobruk.

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